My Word

I’ve heard local and state officials say – off the record, of course – the only thing Kentucky has going for it is cheap energy.

The Alpha Natural Resources Co. says they may close 11 coal mines in West Virginia and lay off 1,100 workers. They found out they can ship coal by sea from the country of Columbia up the east coast for about half the cost of shipping it by rail from Kentucky. What’s more, they say it is easier to get out the ground and burns more efficiently. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about.

Tonight my family experienced the most beautiful form of humbleness in an act so simple yet so grand I cant stop smiling about it even now, hours later.

I have come to a point in my life where I can no longer bear to watch the news anymore, so much destruction, so much hate, so many bad things happening, it just makes me sad and gives me a sense of defeat for our world.

So my husband and I decided we had to share our experience tonight [Sunday], to remind others, including ourselves, of the good that still remains.

In 1923 Ataturk told the new country he forged from the Ottoman Empire, “No matter how great they are, political and military victories cannot endure unless they are crowned by economic triumphs.”

Truer words were never spoken.

If we survive the multitude of messes we’re in — the conflict between Russia and her former satellites, the surging power of the Islamic terrorists, our impossible national debt, and an oppressive and dictorial government — will we turn back to the economic system that built this country?

When Mitchell Howard Payne entered Southside Elementary in 1957 as a second-grader, he was among the first blacks to integrate the Shelbyville school system.

I usually sat or lined up beside him because students were often in alphabetical order in those days. That was a blessing because we have remained friends all these many years. When the 1957 building was demolished over the summer, we reflected on our experiences.

The book “Our Founding Brotherhood” is about six men who were the moving spirit of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our Constitution. They decided that the issue of slavery should not even be put on the table. They were right. I’m convinced they knew in their hearts slavery was doomed because it was morally wrong and it made no economic sense. Adam Smith pointed this out in 1750, but they would never have gotten it passed with slavery an issue.

People around the world have been chanting “No Justice, No Peace” after Michael Brown was executed by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO.

I myself have been chanting “No Justice, No Peace” throughout the streets of Ferguson. We want justice, but how do we get it? The evident incompetence of the local police, mayor, and governor has made it impossible to keep the peace. Protesters continue to march and the media continues to make revisions to their stories of what actually took place rather than the truth.

After reading Pastor [Dave] Charlton’s column [The inevitability of a Fairness Ordinance, Aug. 15 in the Faith section] it appears many Christians would disagree with the Pastor.

While we agree that no citizen of this nation should be discriminated against for their lifestyles, in most situations, this ordinance or law would bring many other factors into being that is unfavorable.

Joseph Ellis in his book “Founding Brothers” nailed it when he said, “It seems safe to say that some sort of representative government based on the principle of popular sovereignty and some form of market economy fueled by the energies of individual citizens have become the commonly accepted ingredients for natural success throughout the world.”

How more succinctly could he put it? What is so hard to understand? What is wrong with being FREE to choose your own destiny?